Soviets

Looks like North Korea's engineers have been hard at work brushing up on their obsolete Soviet-era technology. Because after acquiring 10 discontinued Soviet subs, everyone's everyone's favorite little warmongering-dictatorship-that-could has finally rendered the outdated ballistic vessels seaworthy—and it only took them 21 years. Read More >>

After its Cuban Missile Crisis experience, Kremlin leaders wanted to ensure the USSR would never again be outgunned: one might call it 'Cuban Missile Syndrome.' The result were new missile systems, including schemes to cache nuclear warheads in the deep ocean and outer space. But before the strange logic of nuclear warfare could move off-world – and partially because the very effort placed too much strain on its economy - the Soviet Union collapsed. What follows is a history of these imagined futures of Cold War annihilation.Read More >>

More than 50 years ago, before man had ever stepped foot on the moon, the US government hatched a plan whose ambitions were exceeded only by its total unfeasibility: A secret, self-sustaining, Soviet-shaming military moon base. Read More >>

Not to be outdone by US military research that inspired men to stare at goats, the Soviets also seem to have poured a nice chunk of change into investigating telekinesis and mind control. A new survey of Soviet "unconventional" research on the server ArXiv has the details. Read More >>

Whereas most ruins of decades past are often strictly off-limits, Russia's Kildin island is a veritable petting zoo of the creepiest decaying military equipment you will ever get to see up close. Read More >>